By: Sean Crose
There are those of us who take the advice and guidance of others and then there are those of us who like to do things our own way. Count Jake Paul as a man who up until now at least is likely to do things his own way. Everyone and his brother or sister could have told Paul that fighting Anthony Joshua last year was not the wisest idea. Joshua is a towering Adonis like fighter with enormous power and several world titles on his resume. That alone makes him a tough out for any fighter, much less someone like Paul who wasn’t even a heavyweight and who had nowhere near the experience needed to face someone like Joshua and a ring.
Again though, Paul insisted on doing things his own way. That’s why he ended up getting his jaw broken in brutal fashion once he finally met Joshua face to face in combat. He should have known what was likely to come. He was simply too full of hubris however. We’ve all been there at times. We haven’t all been schooled in front of millions of people, however. Most of the time mistakes are relatively private matters. Not so with Paul, who got thrashed in front of millions.
At least the young man admits that he made a mistake and that facing Joshua wasn’t the smartest thing he had ever done. This is good to know. Say what you will about the brash Paul but nobody should want to see this guy get hurt or permanently damaged in the ring… and that’s what could well happen. At this point people should just be happy that Joshua didn’t do an even worse number on him. Things could have truly ended up horribly both for Paul and for the sport of boxing itself.
Give Paul this, he got farther in the fight game than most people could have ever imagined. Unlike some novelty boxing performers, Paul took the sport seriously and even reached a certain level of skill. He had natural strength, the discipline to learn, and a powerful shot that could hurt anyone that it landed on. This isn’t to say that Paul can’t ever fight again. He just shouldn’t fight anyone of note. It’s just one of those situations where time is likely not on his side. Boxing, it’s been said a million times before and will likely be said a million times again, is a young person’s sport.
Plus Paul’s true gift seems to be as a promoter. The guy really has done wonders for women’s boxing. What’s more, he brings the energy that he brings into the ring and on social media to his promotions. Again, he’s done a ton of good work for women’s boxing. There’s no reason in the world why he can’t do a ton of good work for men’s boxing as well. Make no mistake about it Paul’s a talented man, one who could do a lot of good for this sport. That’s not cheerleading. That’s just a fact.
I suspect Paul might be aware of this. Again, he’s spoken out about the fact that he learned his lesson from the Joshua fight. Here’s hoping he mainly focuses now on promotions and managing the careers of his fighters effectively rather than on his own ring career. It’s worth repeating that the kid did pretty good for himself in the boxing ring, all things considered. He should be done with it now, however. He’s made a ton of money, received a lot of press and has shown what a truly gutsy guy he is. It’s time to move on.
